Norbert Casteret

Norbert Casteret was born in Saint-Martory in Haute-Garonne on 19 August 1897. His father, Henry Casteret, was a lawyer in Toulouse. His brothers were Roger, who died at the age of four, Jean and Martial Casteret, a physician who accompanied his brother on some of his explorations. An all-round athlete and accomplished mountaineer, Casteret began caving in 1912, spanning the era of matches and candles into the age of electric lights. Unlike de Joly, who made caving his profession, Casteret was more the amateur adventurer (albeit a very knowledgeable one). Casteret served in the French infantry for three years during World War I, serving in his brother Jean's regiment. After being demobilized in 1919, he contracted the Spanish flu. He kept the helmet and lamp he used in the trenches for future use in caving. Upon his return from the front, at his father's urging Casteret studied law and became a notary's clerk, a position he quickly abandoned. Élisabeth died on 6 May 1940 of puerperal fever, a few days after the birth of their youngest child. Casteret died in Toulouse on 20 July 1987, at age 89. == Caving career ==

Casteret's fame began with a bold free-dive in the Grotte de Montespan (French) in 1923, which led to the discovery of prehistoric cave drawings on the far side. Casteret's popularity grew in the 1940s and 1950s, in part from his prolific writing – hundreds of articles, and more than 40 books with numerous reprintings in French and translations into several languages. Two of his best-known works, (1933) and (1936) were combined and translated into English by Barrows Mussey as Ten Years Under the Earth in 1939. My Caves, translated from the French by R. L. G. Irving, was published in London by J.M. Dent & Sons in 1947, followed by The Darkness Under The Earth, in 1954. == See also ==